7 good things that will happen if we ban private prisons with the #JusticeNot4Sale Act

Today, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill) introduced the Justice is Not for Sale Act, a comprehensive bill that outlaws the use of for-profit prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers. The bill is one of the boldest attempts to undo the influence of corporations that have turned mass incarceration and immigration detention into a multi-billion dollar industry.

1) Ending private prisons would require a meaningful reduction in mass incarceration and lawmakers should push to end the inherent racial disparities evident in for-profit prisons

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2013, there were 31,900 federal prisoners and 92,100 state prisoners in for-profit prisons. Based on these numbers, banning private prisons at the federal and state level would necessitate a significant 124,000 prison bed reduction. Taking these for-profit prison beds off-line and eliminating the option of privatization should spark lawmakers to prioritize efforts to reduce prison populations and minimize the demand for new prison beds. In fact, the Justice is Not For Sale Act includes a significant provision to reduce the prison system by reinstating federal parole.

Furthermore, banning private prisons should have an impact on the racist implications of locking people up for profit. While black and brown folks are disproportionately incarcerated at all levels of the criminal justice and immigrant detention systems, evidence points to an especially insidious racial disparity in private prisons. NPR reports how recent research (from UC Berkeley doctoral student and Grassroots Leadership board member Christopher Petrella) shows the racial disparities in private prisons housing state prisoners are even greater than in publicly run prisons because private prisons deliberately exclude people with high medical care costs from their contracts. While pushing to end private prisons and reduce prison populations, lawmakers should take note of the profound racial disparities in our criminal justice system.

Today, an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill requires that 34,000 immigrant detention beds be maintained at taxpayer expense, despite the fact that detention is costly, unnecessary, and inhumane. The Justice Is Not For Sale Act eliminates this immigrant detention quota. Main beneficiaries of the quota are two private prison corporations, Corrections Corporation of America, and GEO Group, which dominate the immigrant detention industry and are making record profits at the expense of communities and taxpayers. Together, they made almost $478 million in revenue in 2014 from ICE detention. Nearly two thirds of immigrants in detention are incarcerated in these privately operated facilities, so banning for-profit prisons would dramatically reduce bed space and force a reevaluation of mass immigrant detention.

3) Eliminating private prison lobbying and campaign contributions will help reduce incentives for incarceration in criminal justice and immigration systems

In order to ensure its profits, the private prison industry has taken an active role in influencing legislation and supporting lawmakers that will protect their interests. One of the best known examples of this influence is the industry’s participation in the drafting of Arizona’s SB 1070, the anti-immigrant legislation that effectively legalized racial profiling of anyone law enforcement assumed be an undocumented migrant and authorizing them to be detained in local lockups. SB 1070 was created during closed-door meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council and NPR reported that two Corrections Corporation of America officials were present as corporate members.

A clear priority for the private prison industry has been lobbying on immigrant detention and appropriations policies at the federal level. Together, between 2008-2014 CCA and GEO have spent more than $11 million in quarters when they lobbied on immigration issues and CCA spent nearly $10 million during the same time period in quarters when they lobbied on the DHS Appropriations Committee, the point of control for the quota.

Today, four states - California, Idaho, Hawaii, and Vermont - collectively incarcerate more than 8,000 prisoners in private, for-profit prisons across state lines. In each case, state officials have pointed to overcrowding as justification for out-of-state transfers, despite evidence that maintaining connections with family and loved ones is critical to rehabilitation and successful reentry upon release.

Banning private prisons at the state level would force the immediate return of more than 8,000 prisoners who have been shipped away for corporate gain — out of sight and mind. In the long term, eliminating the option of resorting to private prison beds, regardless of location, should lead policy-makers to prioritize legislation that provides sustainable, humane solutions to mass incarceration.

5) Ending private prisons would eliminate the segregated and unequal system of immigrant prisons

In the federal prisons system, immigrants are often segregated into a series of for-profit and unequal prisons called “Criminal Alien Requirement” prisons. These prisons are growing thanks to the mass criminal prosecution of immigrants under Operation Streamline and related programs.

Early this year, one of these CAR private prisons in Willacy County, Texas erupted into a major uprising. Incarcerated immigrants and advocates had for years been warning that these prisons are tinderboxes of horrendous conditions waiting to explode, and in fact this was third major uprising sparked by horrendous prison conditions in one of these private prisons.

Ending private prisons at the federal level would require closing these unequal and segregated immigrants prisons. Lawmakers and the Obama administration should also end the practice of criminalizing migration in order to continue to reduce the federal prison population.

6) Ending private prisons would curb the current mass family detention system

Since the fall of 2014, one kind of facility has been driving huge profits for the two biggest private prison corporations: massive detention camps for refugee women and their children.

GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) reported massive profits to their shareholders this year. In early August, GEO Group told shareholders on a telephonic briefing that they could look forward to an additional $20 million in annual revenues at the Karnes family detention camp. For their part, CCA told shareholders that the Dilley family detention camp was one of the reasons they could celebrate “double-digit growth” and that the camp would “contribute meaningfully to our long-term growth." CCA execs were also excited to report that the Dilley camp alone brought them $65.9 million in revenue for just the second quarter of 2015.

Almost all of the family detention beds in the U.S. are privately operated, meaning that the government pays out big to private prisons to lock up women and children seeking asylum in the U.S. There has been a vibrant campaign to end family detention, including massive mobilizations, multiple judges ruling against it and hunger strikes inside. Despite all of this, the family detention camps remain open for business with contracts from an administration that is unable or unwilling to close the camps. A ban on private prisons could mean the end of mass family detention, and the Justice is Not For Sale Act expressedly ends the practice of family detention as we know it.

Private prison corporations make their money off of human misery. The lack of respect for human dignity inherent in the industry is showcased in the egregious conditions in the prisons and detention centers they operate. The largest of these companies, Corrections Corporation of America, has a 30+ year legacy of medical neglect, sexual assault, riots, escapes, and financial scandals. This includes the Idaho Correctional Center, nicknamed the “Gladiator School” where guards allegedly allowed and even incited violent attacks as a tool of social control. Then there’s Management & Training Corp (MTC), which presided over riots in their Kingman and Willacy prisons, spurred by horrendous conditions and ill-trained staff. The GEO Group, another of the largest prison corporations, recently saw a hunger strike from moms at its Karnes family detention camp near San Antonio protesting deplorable food and medical care and the prolonged detention their children in a secure, prison environment.

Though these abuses are shocking, what else could be expected from an industry founded on the idea that you can sell prisons “just like you were selling cars, or real estate, or hamburgers?” This bill would put these corporations out of business and send a clear message that incarcerating more people should not be incentivized by a profit motive.

On any given day, at least 34,000 people are detained in immigrant detention centers in the U.S. to meet an arbitrary lock-up quota dictated by Congress. Stopping the quota would be a giant step forward in ending our reliance on detention. Grassroots Leadership researches and exposes the role of for-profit prisons and their lobbyists in enacting the quota contributes to the growing national movement to stop immigrant detention.

Crossing the border was once a matter for civil immigration courts. Now, every day in federal criminal courts along the Southwest border, hundreds of mostly destitute Latino and indigenous Latin American migrants are shackled, charged, convicted and sentenced en masse under the policy called “Operation Streamline.” The program has proven to be a boon for private prisons by funneling tens of thousands of immigrants into federal prisons every year. Through research and advocacy, Grassroots Leadership is fighting for and end to this program.

Private prison corporations are now a multi-billion dollar industry, preying on rising rates of incarceration and confinement to ensure profit. Through the Public Safety and Justice Campaign, Grassroots Leadership works with partners across the country to expose the private prison industry, stop its expansion, and close existing private prisons. We believe public safety and justice can only be achieved when no one profits from the incarceration of human beings.

The for-profit prison industry enables states with overcrowded prisons to ship prisoners across state lines, rather than prioritize addressing root causes of mass incarceration. Today, four states collectively lock up nearly 10,000 prisoners in for-profit prisons far from home. We strive for a system that keeps families together and provides opportunities for rehabilitation, not one that is motivated by corporate profit.

In 2009, Grassroots Leadership ran a successful campaign to end family detention at the Hutto Detention Center in Taylor Texas. When the Obama administration announced that it would stop detaining families at Hutto, only 100 family detention beds remained at a small facility in Pennsylvania. However, after the wave of Central American families and children seeking refuge at our border in the summer of 2014, the administration reversed its decision, opening facilities at Artesia, New Mexico; Karnes, Texas, and Dilley, Texas - all run by private prison corporations. While Artesia closed at the end of last year, the number of family detention beds has skyrocketed and is expected to reach over 3,000 by this May. Grassroots Leadership is once again working to end the inhumane policy of family detention.